To Our Venerable Brethren, the
Patriarchs, Primates, Archbishops, Bishops, and other Ordinaries in Peace and Communion
with the Apostolic See.

Venerable Brethren, Health and the Apostolic Benediction.

1. Joyful indeed comes the remembrance, Venerable Brethren, of that great and
incomparable man, the Pontiff Gregory, first of the name, whose centenary solemnity, at
the close of the thirteenth century since his death, we are about to celebrate. By that
God who killeth and maketh alive, who humbleth and exalteth, it was ordained, not, We
think, without a special providence, that amid the almost innumerable cares of Our
Apostolic ministry, amid all the anxieties which the government of the Universal Church
imposes upon Us, amid our pressing solicitude to satisfy as best We may your claims,
Venerable Brethren, who have been called to a share in Our Apostolate, and those of all
the faithful entrusted to Our care, Our gaze at the beginning of Our Pontificate should be
turned at once towards that most holy and illustrious Predecessor of Ours, the honor of
the Church and its glory. For Our heart is filled with great confidence in his most
powerful intercession with God, and strengthened by the memory of the sublime maxims he
inculcated in his lofty office and of the virtues devoutly practiced by him. And since by
the force of the former and the fruitfulness of the latter he has left on God's Church a
mark so vast, so deep, so lasting, that his contemporaries and posterity have justly given
him the name of Great, and to-day, after all these centuries, the eulogy of his epitaph is
still verified: "He lives eternal in every place by his innumerable good works"
(Apud Joann. Diac., Vita Greg. iv. 68) it will surely be given, with the help of Divine
grace, to all followers of his wonderful example, to fulfill the duties of their own
offices, as far as human weakness permits.

2. There is but little need to repeat here what public documents have made known to
all. When Gregory assumed the Supreme Pontificate the disorder in public affairs had
reached its climax; the ancient civilization had all but disappeared and barbarism was
spreading throughout the dominions of the crumbling Roman Empire. Italy, abandoned by the
Emperors of Byzantium, had been left a prey of the still unsettled Lombards who roamed up
and down the whole country laying waste everywhere with fire and sword and bringing
desolation and death in their train. This very city, threatened from without by its
enemies, tried from within by the scourges of pestilence, floods and famine, was reduced
to such a miserable plight that it had become a problem how to keep the breath of life in
the citizens and in the immense multitudes who flocked hither for refuge. Here were to be
found men and women of all conditions, bishops and priests carrying the sacred vessels
they had saved from plunder, monks and innocent spouses of Christ who had sought safety in
flight from the swords of the enemy or from the brutal insults of abandoned men. Gregory
himself calls the Church of Rome: "An old ship woefully shattered; for the waters are
entering on all sides, and the joints, buffeted by the daily stress of the storm, are
growing rotten and herald shipwreck" (Registrum i., 4 ad Joannem episcop.
Constantino.). But the pilot raised up by God had a strong hand, and when placed at the
helm succeeding not only in making the port in despite of the raging seas, but in saving
the vessel from future storms.

3. Truly wonderful is the work he was able to effect during his reign of little more
than thirteen years. He was the restorer of Christian life in its entirety, stimulating
the devotion of the faithful, the observance of the monks, the discipline of the clergy,
the pastoral solicitude of the bishops. Most prudent father of the family of Christ that
he was (Joann. Diac., Vita Greg. ii. 51), he preserved and increased the patrimony of the
Church, and liberally succored the impoverished people, Christian society, and individual
churches, according to the necessities of each. Becoming truly God's Consul (Epitaph), he
pushed his fruitful activity far beyond the walls of Rome, and entirely for the advantage
of civilized society. He opposed energetically the unjust claims of the Byzantine
Emperors; he checked the audacity and curbed the shameless avarice of the exarchs and the
imperial administrators, and stood up in public as the defender of social justice. He
tamed the ferocity of the Lombards, and did not hesitate to meet Agulfus at the gates of
Rome in order to prevail upon him to raise the siege of the city, just as the Pontiff Leo
the Great did in the case of Attila; nor did he desist in his prayers, in his gentle
persuasion, in his skillful negotiation, until he saw that dreaded people settle down and
adopt a more regular government; until he knew that they were won to the Catholic faith,
mainly through the influence of the pious Queen Theodolinda, his daughter in Christ. Hence
Gregory may justly be called the savior and liberator of Italyhis own land, as he
tenderly calls her.

4. Through his incessant pastoral care the embers of heresy in Italy and Africa die
out, ecclesiastical life in the Gauls is re-organized, the Visigoths of the Spains are
welded together in the conversion which has already been begun among them, and the
renowned English nation, which, "situated in a corner of the world, while it had
hitherto remained obstinate in the worship of wood and stone" (Reg. viii. 29, 30, ad
Eulog. Episcop. Alexandr.), now also receives the true faith of Christ. Gregory's heart
overflowed with joy at the news of this precious conquest, for his is the heart of a
father embracing his most beloved son, and in attributing all the merit of it to Jesus the
Redeemer, "for whose love," as he himself writes, "we are seeking our
unknown brethren in Britain, and through whose grace we find unknown ones we were
seeking" (Reg. xi. 36 (28), ad Augustin. Anglorum Episcopum). And so grateful to the
Holy Pontiff was the English nation that they called him always: our Master, our Doctor,
our Apostle, our Pope, our Gregory, and considered itself as the seal of his apostolate.
In fine, so salutary and so efficacious was his action that the memory of the works
wrought by him became deeply impressed on the minds of posterity, especially during the
Middle Ages, which breathed, so to say, the atmosphere infused by him, fed on his words,
conformed its life and manners according to the example inculcated by him, with the result
that Christian social civilization was happily introduced into the world in opposition to
the Roman civilization of the preceding centuries, which now passed away for ever.

5. This is the change of the right hand of the Most High! And well may it be said that
in the mind of Gregory the hand of God alone was operative in these great events. What he
wrote to the most holy monk Augustine about this same conversion of the English may be
equally applied to all the rest of his apostolic action: "Whose work is this but His
who said: My Father worketh till now, and I work? (John v. 17). To show the world that He
wished to convert it, not by the wisdom of men, but by His own power, He chose unlettered
men to be preachers to the world; and the same He has now done, vouchsafing to accomplish
through weak men great things among the nation of the Angles" (Reg. xi. 36 (28)). We,
indeed, may discern much that the holy Pontiff's profound humility hid from his own sight:
his knowledge of affairs, his talent for bringing his undertakings to a successful issue,
the wonderful prudence shown in all his provisions, his assiduous vigilance, his
persevering solicitude. But it is, nevertheless, true that he never put himself forward as
one invested with the might and power of the great ones of the earth, for instead of using
the exalted prestige of the Pontifical dignity, he preferred to call himself the Servant
of the Servants of God, a title which he was the first to adopt. It was not merely by
profane science or the "persuasive words of human wisdom (I Cor. ii. 4) that he
traced out his career, or by the devices of civil politics, or by systems of social
renovation, skillfully studied, prepared and put in execution; nor yet, and this is very
striking, by setting before himself a vast program of apostolic action to be gradually
realized; for we know that, on the contrary, his mind was full of the idea of the
approaching end of the world which was to have left him but little time for great
exploits. Very delicate and fragile of body though he was, and constantly afflicted by
infirmities which several times brought him to the point of death, he yet possessed an
incredible energy of soul which was for ever receiving fresh vigor from his lively faith
in the infallible words of Christ, and in His Divine promises. Then again, he counted with
unlimited confidence on the supernatural force given by God to the Church for the
successful accomplishment of her divine mission in the world. The constant aim of his
life, as shown in all his words and works, was, therefore, this: to preserve in himself,
and to stimulate in others this same lively faith and confidence, doing all the good
possible at the moment in expectation of the Divine judgment.

6. And this produced in him the fixed resolve to adopt for the salvation of all the
abundant wealth of supernatural means given by God to His Church, such as the infallible
teaching of revealed truth, and the preaching of the same teaching in the whole world, and
the sacraments which have the power of infusing or increasing the life of the soul, and
the grace of prayer in the name of Christ which assures heavenly protection

7. These memories, Venerable Brethren, are a source of unspeakable comfort to Us. When
We glance around from the walls of the Vatican We find that like Gregory, and perhaps with
even more reason than he, We have grounds for fear, with so many storms gathering on every
side, with so many hostile forces massed and advancing against Us, and at the same time so
utterly deprived are We of all human aid to ward off the former and to help us to meet the
shock of the latter. But when We consider the place on which Our feet rest and on which
this Pontifical See is rooted, We feel Ourself perfectly safe on the rock of Holy Church.
"For who does not know," wrote St. Gregory to the Patriarch Eulogius of
Alexandria, "that Holy Church stands on the solidity of the Prince of the Apostles,
who got his name from his firmness, for he was called Peter from the word rock? (Registr.
vii. 37 (40)). Supernatural force has never during the flight of ages been found wanting
in the Church, nor have Christ's promises failed; these remain today just as they were
when they brought consolation to Gregory's heartnay, they are endowed with even
greater force for Us after having stood the test of centuries and so many changes of
circumstances and events.

8. Kingdoms and empires have passed away; peoples once renowned for their history and
civilization have disappeared; time and again the nations, as though overwhelmed by the
weight of years, have fallen asunder; while the Church, indefectible in her essence,
united by ties indissoluble with her heavenly Spouse, is here to-day radiant with eternal
youth, strong with the same primitive vigor with which she came from the Heart of Christ
dead upon the Cross. Men powerful in the world have risen up against her. They have
disappeared, and she remains. Philosophical systems without number, of every form and
every kind, rose up against her, arrogantly vaunting themselves her masters, as though
they had at last destroyed the doctrine of the Church, refuted the dogmas of her faith,
proved the absurdity of her teachings. But those systems, one after another, have passed
into books of history, forgotten, bankrupt; while from the Rock of Peter the light of
truth shines forth as brilliantly as on the day when Jesus first kindled it on His
appearance in the world, and fed it with His Divine words: "Heaven and earth shall
pass, but my words shall not pass" (Matth. xxiv. 35).

9. We, strengthened by this faith, firmly established on this rock, realizing to the
full all the heavy duties that the Primacy imposes on Usbut also all the vigor that
comes to Us from the Divine Willcalmly wait until all the voices be scattered to the
winds that now shout around Us proclaiming that the Church has gone beyond her time, that
her doctrines are passed away for ever, that the day is at hand when she will be condemned
either to accept the tenets of a godless science and civilization or to disappear from
human society. Yet at the same time We cannot but remind all, great and small, as Pope St.
Gregory did, of the absolute necessity of having recourse to this Church in order to have
eternal salvation, to follow the right road of reason, to feed on the truth, to obtain
peace and even happiness in this life.

10. Wherefore, to use the words of the Holy Pontiff, "Turn your steps towards this
unshaken rock upon which Our Savior founded the Universal Church, so that the path of him
who is sincere of heart may not be lost in devious windings" (Reg. viii. 24, ad
Sabin. episcop.). It is only the charity of the Church and union with her which
"unite what is divided, restore order where there is confusion, temper inequalities,
fill up imperfections" (Registr. v. 58 (53) ad Virgil. episcop.). It is to be firmly
held "that nobody can rightly govern in earthly things, unless he knows how to treat
divine things, and that the peace of States depends upon the universal peace of the
Church" (Registr. v. 37 (20) ad Mauric. Aug.). Hence the absolute necessity of a
perfect harmony between the two powers, ecclesiastical and civil, each being by the will
of God called to sustain the other. For, "power over all men was given from heaven
that those who aspire to do well may be aided, that the path to heaven may be made
broader, and that earthly sovereignty may be handmaid to heavenly sovereignty"
(Registr. iii. 61(65) ad Mauric. Aug.).

11. From these principles was derived that unconquerable firmness shown by Gregory,
which We, with the help of God, will study to imitate, resolved to defend at all costs the
rights and prerogatives of which the Roman Pontificate is the guardian and the defender
before God and man. But it was the same Gregory who wrote to the patriarchs of Alexandria
and Antioch: When the rights of the Church are in question, "we must show, even by
our death, that we do not, through love of some private interest of our own want anything
contrary to the common weal" (Registr. v. 41). And to the Emperor Maurice: "He
who through vainglory raises his neck against God Almighty and against the statutes of the
Fathers, shall not bend my neck to him, not even with the cutting of swords, as I trust in
the same God Almighty" (Registr. v. 37). And to the Deacon Sabinian: "I am ready
to die rather than permit that the Church degenerate in my days. And you know well my
ways, that I am long-suffering; but when I decide not to bear any longer, I face danger
with a joyful soul" (Registr. v. 6 (iv. 47)).

12. Such were the fundamental maxims which the Pontiff Gregory constantly proclaimed,
and men listened to him. And thus, with Princes and peoples docile to his words, the world
regained true salvation, and put itself on the path of a civilization which was noble and
fruitful in blessings in proportion as it was founded on the incontrovertible dictates of
reason and moral discipline, and derived its force from truth divinely revealed and from
the maxims of the Gospel.

13. But in those days the people, albeit rude, ignorant, and still destitute of all
civilization, were eager for life, and this no one could give except Christ, through the
Church, who "came that they may have life and have it more abundantly" (John x.
10). And truly they had life and had it abundantly, precisely because as no other life but
the supernatural life of souls could come from the Church, this includes in itself and
gives additional vigor to all the energies of life, even in the natural order. "If
the root be holy so are the branches," said St. Paul to the Gentiles, "and thou
being a wild olive art ingrafted in them, and art made partaker of the root and of the
fatness of the olive-tree (Rom. xi. 16, 17).

14. Today, on the contrary, although the world enjoys a light so full of Christian
civilization and in this respect cannot for a moment be compared with the times of
Gregory, yet it seems as though it were tired of that life, which has been and still is
the chief and often the sole fount of so many blessingsand not merely past but
present blessings. And not only does this useless branch cut itself off from the trunk, as
happened in other times when heresies and schisms arose, but it first lays the ax to the
root of the tree, which is the Church, and strives to dry up its vital sap that its ruin
may be the surer and that it may never blossom again.

15. In this error, which is the chief one of our time and the source whence all the
others spring, lies the origin of so much loss of eternal salvation among men, and of all
the ruins affecting religion which we continue to lament, and of the many others which we
still fear will happen if the evil be not remedied. For all supernatural order is denied,
and, as a consequence, the divine intervention in the order of creation and in the
government of the world and in the possibility of miracles; and when all these are taken
away the foundations of the Christian religion are necessarily shaken. Men even go so far
as to impugn the arguments for the existence of God, denying with unparalleled audacity
and against the first principles of reason the invincible force of the proof which from
the effects ascends to their cause, that is God, and to the notion of His infinite
attributes. "For the invisible things of him, from the creation of the world, are
clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made: his eternal power also and
divinity" (Rom. i. 20). The way is thus opened to other most grievous errors, equally
repugnant to right reason and pernicious to good morals.

16. The gratuitous negation of the supernatural principles, proper to knowledge falsely
so called, has actually become the postulate of a historical criticism equally false.
Everything that relates in any way to the supernatural order, either as belonging to it,
constituting it, presupposing it, or merely finding its explanation in it, is erased
without further investigation from the pages of history. Such are the Divinity of Jesus
Christ, His Incarnation through the operation of the Holy Ghost, His Resurrection by His
own power, and in general all the dogmas of our faith. Science once placed on this false
road, there is no law of criticism to hold it back; and it cancels at its own caprice from
the holy books everything that does not suit it or that it believes to be opposed to the
pre-established theses it wishes to demonstrate. For take away the supernatural order and
the story of the origin of the Church must be built on quite another foundation, and hence
the innovators handle as they list the monuments of history, forcing them to say what they
wish them to say, and not what the authors of those monuments meant.

17. Many are captivated by the great show of erudition which is held out before them,
and by the apparently convincing force of the proofs adduced, so that they either lose the
faith or feel that it is greatly shaken in them. There are many too, firm in the faith,
who accuse critical science of being destructive, while in itself it is innocent and a
sure element of investigation when rightly applied. Both the former and the latter fail to
see that they start from a false hypothesis, that is to say, from science falsely
so-called, which logically forces them to conclusions equally false. For given a false
philosophical principle everything deduced from it is vitiated. But these errors will
never be effectively refuted, unless by bringing about a change of front, that is to say,
unless those in error be forced to leave the field of criticism in which they consider
themselves firmly entrenched for the legitimate field of philosophy through the
abandonment of which they have fallen into their errors.

18. Meanwhile, however, it is painful to have to apply to men not lacking in acumen and
application the rebuke addressed by St. Paul to those who fail to rise from earthly things
to the things that are invisible: "They became vain in their thoughts and their
foolish heart was darkened; for professing themselves to be wise they became fools"
(Rom. i. 21, 22). And surely foolish is the only name for him who consumes all his
intellectual forces in building upon sand.

19. Not less deplorable are the injuries which accrue from this negation to the moral
life of individuals and of civil society. Take away the principle that there is anything
divine outside this visible world, and you take away all check upon unbridled passions
even of the lowest and most shameful kind, and the minds that become slaves to them riot
in disorders of every species. "God gave them up to the desires of their heart, unto
uncleanness, to dishonor their own bodies among themselves" (Rom. i. 24). You are
well aware, Venerable Brethren, how truly the plague of depravity triumphs on all sides,
and how the civil authority wherever it fails to have recourse to the means of help
offered by the supernatural order, finds itself quite unequal to the task of checking it.
Nay, authority will never be able to heal other evils as long as it forgets or denies that
all power comes from God. The only check a government can command in this case is that of
force; but force cannot be constantly employed, nor is it always available yet the people
continue to be undermined as by a secret disease, they become discontented with
everything, they proclaim the right to act as they please, they stir up rebellions, they
provoke revolutions, often of extreme violence, in the State; they overthrow all rights
human and divine. Take away God, and all respect for civil laws, all regard for even the
most necessary institutions disappears; justice is scouted; the very liberty that belongs
to the law of nature is trodden underfoot; and men go so far as to destroy the very
structure of the family, which is the first and firmest foundation of the social
structure. The result is that in these days hostile to Christ, it has become more
difficult to apply the powerful remedies which the Redeemer has put into the hands of the
Church in order to keep the peoples within the lines of duty.

20. Yet there is no salvation for the world but in Christ: "For there is no other
name under heaven given to men whereby we may be saved" (Acts iv. 12). To Christ then
we must return. At His feet we must prostrate ourselves to hear from His divine mouth the
words of eternal life, for He alone can show us the way of regeneration, He alone teach us
the truth, He alone restore life to us. It is He who has said: "I am the way, the
truth, and the life" (John xiv. 16). Men have once more attempted to work here below
without Him, they have begun to build up the edifice after rejecting the corner stone, as
the Apostle Peter rebuked the executioners of Jesus for doing. And lo! the pile that has
been raised again crumbles and falls upon the heads of the builders, crushing them. But
Jesus remains for ever the corner stone of human society, and again the truth becomes
apparent that without Him there is no salvation: "This is the stone which has been
rejected by you, the builders, and which has become the head of the corner, neither is
there salvation in any other" (Acts iv. 11, 12).

21. From all this you will easily see, Venerable Brethren, the absolute necessity
imposed upon every one of us to receive with all the energy of our souls and with all the
means at our disposal, this supernatural life in every branch of societyin the poor
working-man who earns his morsel of bread by the sweat of his brow, from morning to night,
and in the great ones of the earth who preside over the destiny of nations. We must, above
all else, have recourse to prayer, both public and private, to implore the mercies of the
Lord and His powerful assistance. "Lord, save uswe perish" (Matthew viii.
25), we must repeat like the Apostles when buffeted by the storm.

22. But this is not enough. Gregory rebukes the bishop who, through love of spiritual
solitude and prayer, fails to go out into the battlefield to combat strenuously for the
cause of the Lord: "The name of bishop, which he bears, is an empty one." And
rightly so, for men's intellects are to be enlightened by continual preaching of the
truth, and errors are to be efficaciously refuted by the principles of true and solid
philosophy and theology, and by all the means provided by the genuine progress of
historical investigation. It is still more necessary to inculcate properly on the minds of
all the moral maxims taught by Jesus Christ, so that everybody may learn to conquer
himself, to curb the passions of the mind, to stifle pride, to live in obedience to
authority, to love justice, to show charity towards all, to temper with Christian love the
bitterness of social inequalities, to detach the heart from the goods of the world, to
live contented with the state in which Providence has placed us, while striving to better
it by the fulfillment of our duties, to thirst after the future life in the hope of
eternal reward. But, above all, is it necessary that these principles be instilled and
made to penetrate into the heart, so that true and solid piety may strike root there, and
all, both as men and as Christians, may recognize by their acts, as well as by their
words, the duties of their state and have recourse with filial confidence to the Church
and her ministers to obtain from them pardon for their sins, to receive the strengthening
grace of the Sacraments, and to regulate their lives according to the laws of
Christianity.

23. With these chief duties of the spiritual ministry it is necessary to unite the
charity of Christ, and when this moves us there will be nobody in affliction who will not
be consoled by us, no tears that will not be dried by our hands, no need that will not be
relieved by us. To the exercise of this charity let us dedicate ourselves wholly; let all
our own affairs give way before it, let our personal interests and convenience be set
aside for it, making ourselves "all things to all men" (I Cor. ix. 22), to gain
all men to the Lord, giving up our very life itself, after the example of Christ:
"The good shepherd gives his life for his sheep (John x. 11).

24. These precious admonitions abound in the pages which the Pontiff St. Gregory has
left written, and they are expressed with far greater force in the manifold examples of
his admirable life.

25. Now since all this springs necessarily both from the nature of the principles of
Christian revelation, and from the intrinsic properties which Our Apostolate should have,
you see clearly, Venerable Brethren, how mistaken are those who think they are doing
service to the Church, and producing fruit for the salvation of souls, when by a kind of
prudence of the flesh they show themselves liberal in concessions to science falsely
so-called, under the fatal illusion that they are thus able more easily to win over those
in error, but really with the continual danger of being themselves lost. The truth is one,
and it cannot be halved; it lasts for ever, and is not subject to the vicissitudes of the
times. "Jesus Christ, today and yesterday, and the same for ever" (Hebr. xiii.
8).

26. And so too are all they seriously mistaken who, occupying themselves with the
welfare of the people, and especially upholding the cause of the lower classes, seek to
promote above all else the material well-being of the body and of life, but are utterly
silent about their spiritual welfare and the very serious duties which their profession as
Christians enjoins upon them. They are not ashamed to conceal sometimes, as though with a
veil, certain fundamental maxims of the Gospel, for fear lest otherwise the people refuse
to hear and follow them. It will certainly be the part of prudence to proceed gradually in
laying down the truth, when one has to do with men completely strangers to us and
completely separated from God. "Before using the steel, let the wounds be felt with a
light hand," as Gregory said (Registr. v. 44 (18) ad Joannem episcop.). But even this
carefulness would sink to mere prudence of the flesh, were it proposed as the rule of
constant and everyday actionall the more since such a method would seem not to hold
in due account that Divine Grace which sustains the sacerdotal ministry and which is given
not only to those who exercise this ministry, but to all the faithful of Christ in order
that our words and our action may find an entrance into their heart. Gregory did not at
all understand this prudence, either in the preaching of the Gospel, or in the many
wonderful works undertaken by him to relieve misery. He did constantly what the Apostles
had done, for they, when they went out for the first time into the world to bring into it
the name of Christ, repeated the saying: "We preach Christ crucified, a scandal for
the Jews, a folly for the Gentiles" (I Cor. i. 23). If ever there was a time in which
human prudence seemed to offer the only expedient for obtaining something in a world
altogether unprepared to receive doctrines so new, so repugnant to human passions, so
opposed to the civilization, then at its most flourishing period, of the Greeks and the
Romans, that time was certainly the epoch of the preaching of the faith. But the Apostles
disdained such prudence, because they understood well the precept of God: "It pleased
God by the foolishness of our preaching to save them that believe (I Cor. i. 21). And as
it ever was, so it is today, this foolishness "to them that are saved, that is, to
us, is the power of God" (I Cor. i. 18). The scandal of the Crucified will ever
furnish us in the future, as it has done in the past, with the most potent of all weapons;
now as of yore in that sign we shall find victory.

27. But, Venerable Brethren, this weapon will lose much of its efficacy or be
altogether useless in the hands of men not accustomed to the interior life with Christ,
not educated in the school of true and solid piety, not thoroughly inflamed with zeal for
the glory of God and for the propagation of His kingdom. So keenly did Gregory feel this
necessity that he used the greatest care in creating bishops and priests animated by a
great desire for the divine glory and for the true welfare of souls. And this was the
intent he had before him in his book on the Pastoral Rule, wherein are gathered together
the laws regulating the formation of the clergy and the government of bishopslaws
most suitable not for his times only but for our own. Like an "Argus full of
light," says his biographer, "he moved all round the eyes of his pastoral
solicitude through all the extent of the world" (Joann. Diac., lib ii. c. 55), to
discover and correct the failings and the negligence of the clergy. Nay, he trembled at
the very thought that barbarism and immortality might obtain a footing in the life of the
clergy, and he was deeply moved and gave himself no peace whenever he learned of some
infraction of the disciplinary laws of the Church, and immediately administered admonition
and correction, threatening canonical penalties on transgressors, sometimes immediately
applying these penalties himself, and again removing the unworthy from their offices
without delay and without human respect.

28. Moreover, he inculcated the maxims which we frequently find in his writings in such
form as this: "In what frame of mind does one enter upon the office of mediator
between God and man who is not conscious of being familiar with grace through a
meritorious life?" (Reg. Past. i. 10). "U passion lives in his actions, with
what presumption does he hasten to cure the wound, when he wears a scar on his very
face?" (Reg. Past. i. 9). What fruit can be expected for the salvation of souls if
the apostles "combat in their lives what they preach in their words?" (Reg. Past
i. 2). "Truly he cannot remove the delinquencies of others who is himself ravaged by
the same" (Reg. Past. i. 11).

29. The picture of the true priest, as Gregory understands and describes him, is the
man "who, dying to all passions of the flesh, already lives spiritually; who has no
thought for the prosperity of the world; who has no fear of adversity; who desires only
internal things; who does not permit himself to desire what belongs to others but is
liberal of his own; who is all bowels of compassion and inclines to forgiveness, but in
forgiveness never swerves unduly from the perfection of righteousness; who never commits
unlawful actions, but deplores as though they were his own the unlawful actions of others;
who with all affection of the heart compassionates the weakness of others, and rejoices in
the prosperity of his neighbor as in his own profit; who in all his doings so renders
himself a model for others as to have nothing whereof to be ashamed, at least, as regards
his external actions; who studies so to live that he may be able to water the parched
hearts of his neighbors with the waters of doctrine; who knows through the use of prayer
and through his own experience that he can obtain from the Lord what he asks" (Reg.
Past. i. 10).

30. How much thought, therefore, Venerable Brethren, must the Bishop seriously take
with himself and in the presence of God before laying hands on young Levites! "Let
him never dare, either as an act of favor to anybody or in response to petitions made to
him, to promote any one to sacred orders whose life and actions do not furnish a guarantee
of worthiness" (Registr. v 63 (58) ad universos episcopos per Hellad.) With what
deliberation should he reflect before entrusting the work of the apostolate to newly
ordained priests! If they be not duly tried under the vigilant guardianship of more
prudent priests, if there be not abundant evidence of their morality, of their inclination
for spiritual exercises, of their prompt obedience to all the norms of action which are
suggested by ecclesiastical custom or proved by long experience, or imposed by those whom
"the Holy Ghost has placed as bishops to rule the Church of God" (Acts xx. 28),
they will exercise the sacerdotal ministry not for the salvation but for the ruin of the
Christian people. For they will provoke discord, and excite rebellion, more or less tacit,
thus offering to the world the sad spectacle of something like division amongst us,
whereas in truth these deplorable incidents are but the pride and unruliness of a few. Oh!
let those who stir up discord be altogether removed from every office. Of such apostles
the Church has no need; they are not apostles of Jesus Christ Crucified but of themselves.

31. We seem to see still present before Our eyes the Holy Pontiff Gregory at the
Lateran Council, surrounded by a great number of bishops from all parts of the world. Oh,
how fruitful is the exhortation that falls from his lips on the duties of the clergy! How
his heart is consumed with zeal! His words are as lightnings rending the perverse, as
scourges striking the indolent, as flames of divine love gently enfolding the most
fervent. Read that wonderful homily of Gregory, Venerable Brethren, and have it read and
meditated by your clergy, especially during the annual retreat (Hom. in Evang. i. 17).

32. Among other things, with unspeakable sorrow he exclaims: "Lo, the world is
full of priests, but rare indeed it is to find a worker in the hands of God; we do indeed
assume the priestly office, but the obligation of the office we do not fulfill" (Hom.
in Evang. n. 3). What force the Church would have to-day could she count a worker in every
priest! What abundant fruit would the supernatural life of the Church produce in souls
were it efficaciously promoted by all. Gregory succeeded in his own times in strenuously
stimulating this spirit of energetic action, and such was the impulse given by him that
the same spirit was kept alive during the succeeding ages. The whole mediaeval period
bears what may be called the Gregorian imprint; almost everything it had indeed came to it
from the Pontiffthe rule of ecclesiastical government, the manifold phases of
charity and philanthropy in its social institutions, the principles of the most perfect
Christian asceticism and of monastic life, the arrangement of the liturgy and the art of
sacred music.

33. The times are indeed greatly changed. But, as We have more than once repeated,
nothing is changed in the life of the Church. From her Divine Founder she has inherited
the virtue of being able to supply at all times, however much they may differ, all that is
required not only for the spiritual welfare of souls, which is the direct object of her
mission, but also everything that aids progress in true civilization, for this follows as
a natural consequence of that same mission.

34. For it cannot be but that the truths of the supernatural order, of which the Church
is the depository, promote also everything that is true, good, and beautiful in the order
of nature, and this the more efficaciously in proportion as these truths are traced to the
supreme principle of all truth, goodness and beauty, which is God.

35. Human science gains greatly from revelation, for the latter opens out new horizons
and makes known sooner other truths of the natural order, and because it opens the true
road to investigation and keeps it safe from errors of application and of method. Thus
does the lighthouse show many things they otherwise would not see, while it points out the
rocks on which the vessel would suffer shipwreck.

36. And since, for our moral discipline, the Divine Redeemer proposes as our supreme
model of perfection His heavenly Father (Matthew v. 48), that is, the Divine goodness
itself, who can fail to see the mighty impulse thence accruing to the ever more perfect
observance of the natural law inscribed in our hearts, and consequently to the greater
welfare of the individual, the family, and universal society? The ferocity of the
barbarians was thus transformed to gentleness, woman was freed from subjection, slavery
was repressed, order was restored in the due and reciprocal independence upon one another
of the various classes of society, justice was recognized, the true liberty of souls was
proclaimed, and social and domestic peace assured.

37. Finally, the arts modeled on the supreme exemplar of all beauty which is God
Himself, from whom is derived all the beauty to be found in nature, are more securely
withdrawn from vulgar concepts and more efficaciously rise towards the ideal, which is the
life of all art. And how fruitful of good has been the principle of employing them in the
service of divine worship and of offering to the Lord everything that is deemed to be
worthy of him, by reason of its richness, its goodness, its elegance of form. This
principle has created sacred art, which became and still continues to be the foundation of
all profane art. We have recently touched upon this in a special motu proprio, when
speaking of the restoration of the Roman Chant according to the ancient tradition and of
sacred music. And the same rules are applicable to the other arts, each in its own sphere,
so that what has been said of the Chant may also be said of painting, sculpture,
architecture; and towards all these most noble creations of genius the Church has been
lavish of inspiration and encouragement. The whole human race, fed on this sublime ideal,
raises magnificent temples, and here in the House of God, as in its own house, lifts up
its heart to heavenly things in the midst of the treasures of all beautiful art, with the
majesty of liturgical ceremony, and to the accompaniment of the sweetest of song.

38. All these benefits, We repeat, the action of the Pontiff St. Gregory succeeded in
attaining in his own time and in the centuries that followed; and these, too, it will be
possible to attain to-day, by virtue of the intrinsic efficacy of the principles which
should guide us and of the means we have at our disposal, while preserving with all zeal
the good which by the grace of God is still left us and "restoring in Christ"
(Ephes. i. 10) all that has unfortunately lapsed from the right rule.

39. We are glad to be able to close these Our Letters with the very words with which
St. Gregory concluded his memorable exhortation in the Lateran Council: "These
things, Brethren, you should meditate with all solicitude yourselves and at the same time
propose for the meditation of your neighbor. Prepare to restore to God the fruit of the
ministry you have received. But everything we have indicated for you we shall obtain much
better by prayer than by our discourse. Let us pray: O God, by whose will we have been
called as pastors among the people, grant, we beseech Thee, that we may enabled to be in
Thy sight what we are said to be by the mouths of men" (Hom. cit., ii. 18).

40. And while We trust by the intercession of the holy Pontiff Gregory that God may
graciously hear Our prayer, We impart to all of you, Venerable Brethren, and to your
clergy and people the Apostolic benediction with all the affection of Our heart, as a
pledge of heavenly favors and in token of Our paternal good-will.

Given at Rome at St. Peter's on March 12, of the year 1904, on the feast of St. Gregory
I. Pope and Doctor of the Church, in the first year of Our Pontificate.